Wednesday, April 23, 2008

My mom and dad stayed with Stinkerbell and Lucky one night last week while The Mighty Hunter's business hosted a Chamber of Commerce Open House/Schmoozefest. While with Nanny and Pa, Stinkerbell gets to do most anything she wants - which is the natural order of things with grandparents, I know. She decided that it was a perfect night for an art project.

I came home to many sheets of pink card-stock and markers and crayons scattered around the kitchen counter.

The next day, however, I found signs that she had used more than just her washable markers. A blue Sharpie had been involved in the artwork and had left its mark on her favorite purple shirt.

Shout! didn't help. I dug deeper into my stain treatments and pulled out Spot Shot. After much spraying and soaking and dabbing of an old towel, I got all but one small dot (will be hidden by her armpit) out of the favorite purple shirt. And! The purple color didn't fade!

An additional WFM tip is after the initial "oooohhhh. pretty new markers and crayons!" thrill is gone, I dump the crayons into a gallon ziplock bag. The boxes get torn and crushed. They don't allow for easy visual choices of the colors.

One last hint... Stinkerbell sits at the kitchen counter to do her homework in the afternoons. This works because I can give Lucky a snack at the same time and also do some straightening up, etc. I have a drawer in the kitchen in which there is a stash of mostly-sharpened pencils and a small ziplock bag of 8-10 crayons for her to use with her homework.

Keep it handy. Keep it easy to maintain. And for the love of Chocolate, keep it washable!

My can of Spot Shot was purchased at Sams. I'm sure it's available at other places, but when you buy 2 extra super large cans at a time and only use it every few months, you stop looking for replacements. So, I can only suggest you go to Sams for it. If you know of other places to grab it, leave me a comment with the info - especially if it's available in normal 4-person-family sized container!